Kept
by Andeles
Summary: Two strangers met on the highway. It was less than fateful. It was more like once in a lifetime, but nobody ever realized that.


Kept

It was a dark, foggy night on the highway, and Elizabeth was driving her little old car as fast as it could go. That is, not quite at the speed limit.

As she approached the town where she lived, she saw bright yellow lights – two of them. This wouldn't have been strange – after all, she was on the highway – except for the fact that as she got nearer and nearer, she could make out the figure of a young man standing outside the car, speaking to the person within.

In a gesture of sympathy – or more likely nosiness – Elizabeth slowed her car and stopped nearby. "Is there anything wrong?" she asked the party.

"Oh, nothing," said the woman in the car snidely. "Nothing at all, except that this maniac just ran in front of me."

"I'm not a maniac!" the young man protested. He turned to Elizabeth, and it chilled her to see that he was strikingly pale – blonde hair nearly the color of his skin, which was deathly white. She couldn't make out the color of his eyes in the dark, but he was eerie in any case.

"I'm too awesome to be an idiot," he declared. Elizabeth held back a chuckle, because laughing never helped in situations like this.

"Well, it _is_ common courtesy to stay away from cars when they're going seventy miles an hour," said Elizabeth placidly. "Are you both okay?"

"I've been better," sneered the woman in the car. Before either Elizabeth or the young man could give a reply, she slammed her foot on the gas and promptly disappeared into the night.

After a brief moment of silence the person turned to Elizabeth.

"So… do you think you could help me?" asked the young man. "I only wanted to ask her for help, you know… but she wasn't cool. _At all_."

Elizabeth restrained herself from rolling her eyes, though it seemed like a suitable time to do so. "What was it that you needed help with?"

"You know this town? I was trying to get there by hitchhiking, but it turns out that that isn't such a good idea after all," he said sheepishly. "I was going to visit a friend."

"No cell phone?" asked Elizabeth, though already she was moving her bags from the passenger seat to let him in. Charity had always been a weakness of hers, and here she was, offering it up again.

"Nah, I'm too awesome for a phone," he said with a wide grin, sliding into her seat.

"So who's this friend of yours? I might know them," Elizabeth asked as she started driving again. The town lights appeared ahead of them, blaring color from the silly stores frequently found at the outskirts.

"I doubt it. They're kind of… I don't know, reclusive," said the man. "I'm Gilbert, by the way. What's your name?"

"Elizabeth."

"So, how old are you?" asked Gilbert. Elizabeth finally had to make a face, the kind of face that is meant to be directed at a person but cannot be due to circumstances. In this case, the circumstances were that she was driving.

"You're not supposed to ask that," she laughed. "But I'm thirty-two."

"Wow, you're old," Gilbert said, before realizing how socially incorrect that statement was.

Elizabeth scowled. "How old are you, then?"

"Twenty-nine."

"What? How can you be that old?" Elizabeth's look of shock was obvious. "You've got to be kidding me. I thought you were in college at oldest."

"What, do I look that young?" he laughed.

"It's your personality. You're certainly stupid enough to be a kid," snapped Elizabeth.

Gilbert laughed again. "I'd say that description isn't awesome enough to suit me. You're probably thinking of your husband."

"Whatever." Elizabeth kept on driving past the edge of the town and closer to her pretty house. "Wait, what, did you guess?"

"Guess what?"

"That I was married."

"Sure I guessed. If you weren't married I was planning on laughing at you," said Gilbert with that same grin. "So what's it like, anyway?"

"What's what like?"

"Being married."

Elizabeth had to think about that one. "You know, it's just… being married. You have someone that you love and you're in it for good."

"Pretty words," said Gilbert scathingly. "I don't think there's any point."

"Maybe you've never fallen in love," said Elizabeth with her eyebrows raised. "Have you?"

"Of course not! Love isn't awesome at all," he stated bluntly.

"And there you go. Of course you aren't married," Elizabeth said matter-of-factly. "Oh, where was it you wanted to go? We're already at my house."

Gilbert looked at the house, big enough for two people, with a fresh coat of blue paint and a garden blooming daffodils and peonies. "Oh, that… I think I can find it from here."

"In the dark?" Elizabeth looked skeptical.

"Of course!" said Gilbert, smiling again. "That sounds awesome."

"Whatever," said Elizabeth for the second time that night. "Do what you want – even though it's stupid."

Gilbert shrugged and disappeared from her car, leaving Elizabeth to gather up her bags and find the way to her door. As soon as she opened the door, the person that was her husband was there to help her put her things away and settle down.

"The strangest thing happened to me tonight," remarked Elizabeth as they sat down for a late dinner. "I picked up a hitchhiker on the highway."

"That's unusual," remarked Roderich. "What was he doing?"

"Trying to get here, he said," said Elizabeth. "But you know… I think maybe he was just lost."


End file.
